UPDATE: Blog and Indexing are Back on Track!

It has been a Whirlwind past 20 months...one lay off followed by 3 job changes and one retirement from a profession. Now that I have my feet fairly firmly set again, I will start posting again to this blog.

During this time period, I did NOT stop extracting records for my Pre-1920 Oklahoma Death Index. Today I added 4400+ more entries from:
- The Daily Ardmoreite (1910-1913)
- The Cherokee Advocate (1882-1906)
- "Fatalities in the Coal Mines of Indian Territory and Southeastern Oklahoma 1885-1962" by   
   Thurman Shuller (NOTE: this includes records from churches in SE Oklahoma)
- Woodward News 15 & 24 June 1894

This brings the total of the dataset to 539,363 entries!!

In the next queue I already have:
- 150+ entries from the Altus Times (1907-1909)
- 17,000+ entries from OK2Explore for 1908-1909-1910
- 5000+ entries from OK2Explore for 1915

I will not be adding the OK2Explore records to the database until I have finished all years 1908-1919.

That will be  a total of 125,592 records, all from the "official" OKlahoma State Department of Health's Index of Deaths (which is available on-line, but has TONS of mistakes in it).

Hopefully I will have them all done by the end of 2017.

My plan is to add a new blog post every Wednesday.

So until next time...Good Hunting!!

Recent Progress...Another 5,488 Records!!

Over the month of March 2016 I have added another 5,488 records to my Pre-1920 Oklahoma Death Index. This includes:

• Daily Ardmoreite  17 Jan 1910-16 Feb 1910  (62 records)
• Daily Ardmoreite  30 Nov 1894-26 Aug 1895  (289 records)
• Cherokee Advocate (Tahlequah) 5 Jan 1883-21 Oct 1893  (363 records)
• Creek Equalization Records  Creek #8279-#9290  (2,451 records)
• Harvey Funeral Home (Ardmore)  21 Sept 1898-7 Nov 1904  (1,185 records)
• J. Wood Taliaferro Funeral Home (Ardmore) 31 May 1918-31 Dec 1919 (96 records)
• St. Clair Funeral Home (Lawton)  2 Aug 1916-26 Aug 1918  (617 records)
• South Cemetery (Ardmore) Sexton's Records  1900-1905  (410 records)
• Woodward Star  1 June 1894 & 29 Aug 1894-19 Sept 1896 (15 records)

My plans for the next several months are to focus on:

1. Daily Ardmoreite obits and Harvey Funeral Home records (Ardmore area deaths);
2. St. Clair County Funeral Home records, Ritter-Gray Funeral Home records and Highland Cemetery records (Lawton area deaths);
3. Creek Equalization Records (Creek Indians, but also quite a few Seminoles);
4. Cherokee Advocate obits (Tahlequah)

I am making a list of sources as they become available and/or as I "discover" them.

This brings the total to 530,439 death references!!

Status Update: 4637 New Records added!

As of 31 Jan 2016 my Pre-1920 Oklahoma Death Index has 520,739 total entries, up 4637 from Dec 2015!

Record sets I am currently working on are:

•  Creek Full Blood Equalization Records...This data set is amazing in the number of deaths recorded. I am roughly 2/3 of the way through the complete file and have over 10,700 pre1920 death references. Many of these are multiple entries for the same person from the proofs of heirship for different individuals. Sometimes the dates match, sometimes they don't. In all cases though, death dates or year are provided for many Creek Indians whose deaths are unlikely to be recorded anywhere else.
• J. Wood Taliaferro Funeral Home of Ardmore OK starting in 1901. So far I have added years 1901 through 1907. These records vary greatly in the information provided. When researching early funeral home records, one must remember that the purpose of the records was not genealogical, not was the purpose medical. The purpose was to make sure information was recorded so the funeral home could collect payment for services rendered. So keep this in mind when you come across very incomplete information. I get frustrated with this data set since often only a month and year is recorded for the death. Also, often the name of the deceased is NOT recorded, only the person or group who ordered the service. On another somber note, I have extracted obits from the Daily Ardmoreite for this time period. Of the 397 records from 1901 through the end of 1907, only 35% have the death referenced in the Ardmoreite.
• The Daily Armoreite...I have now extracted obits from July 1894 through 25 Oct 1909, and 1 Sept 1918 through 1 Feb 1919. In all that is over 8400 death references in that one newspaper for the 15 year period.
• Sac & Fox Estates...These records are very time consuming to go through. I have extracted death information through late 1914. I probably have another 2 months of Saturday research to finish this data set. I have put it "on the back burner" until I have finished the Taliaferro Funeral Home records.
• I have just turned over the "old records" index I created for Hahn-Cook/Street & Draper Funeral Home in Oklahoma City to the Funeral Home. There are over 30,000 entries covering 1894 through 1966. By indexing ALL their old records, I will likely gain access to the early records held by another funeral home in the OKC metroplex. Combine those records with the Oklahoma Death Register records of 1908 through 1920, then I will have the most complete death index for Oklahoma City with all records in one place.

In  future post I will provide a complete list of sources I am currently researching AND sources on my future "To Do" list. Until then...Be sure to check every source available in your genealogy research!

End of 2015 UPDATE: 516,102 entries!!!

Tonight I added new entries to my Pre-1920 Oklahoma Death Index:

Cherkee Advocate  23 Dec 1881 through 22 Dec 1882  (131 entries)
City of Tulsa's Oaklawn Cemetery Report  surnames T-Z  (351 entries)
Creek Equalization Records  Full Blood #4059 through #5965  (3072 entries)
Daily Ardmoreite 16 Apr 1908 through 8 Dec 1908   (608 entries)
Daily Ardmoreite  21 Jan 1919 through 28 Jan 1919  (39 entries)
Sac & Fox/Shawnee Estates 1911-1919 [finished 1911-1913]  (183 records)

This is a total of over 4000 more death records/references, bringing the grand total to 516,102 records!

I have finished the records for Oaklawn Cemetery in Tulsa.

I continue working on extractions from Creek Equalization Records, SacFoxShawnee Estates, Daily Ardmoreite and the Cherokee Advocate.

Recently I traveled to the Lawton Public Library. There I found funeral home records for Lawton, Burial records for Lawton's big Highland Cemetery, and a funeral home record book for Tahlequah OK. Lawton's library has a fairly large collection of Oklahoma records, so I will be making periodic trips there to make extractions.

Tulsa's Hardesty Library also has a large genealogy collection with many books not easily available elsewhere. So I will be making quarterly trips to that Library.

The Native America Collection at the Oklahoma History Center is unrivaled! Ancestry has copied and made available SOME of the collection, and SOME records are on Fold3, but the best complete set of records is at the OHS. I continue to head there just about every Saturday morning to work through the records available.

The Downtown OKC Public Library also has a great Oklahoma genealogy/history collection. Due to construction and parking issues, I have not availed myself of their collection the past year. When those issues are solved, I will be there once a week looking for records unavailable elsewhere.

So my "project" is progressing. I have set a goal of 565,000 entries by the end of 2016. That will be a tall order at over 4000 records per month, but is doable. So until next time....May your research result I break throughs!

Blog Update: 495,148 Entries

In the past 5 months, I have been active extracting information for record sources and entering that data into my Pre-1920 Oklahoma Death Index. I've also given talks to the Cleveland County Genealogical Society (at Norman), the Garfield County Genealogists (in Enid) and the Edmond Genealogical Society.

This morning I updated the database and added 4,267 entries. Those entries came from these sources:

• Creek Equalization Records (1646 entries)
• Choctaw County Probates (1192 entries)
• Tulsa's Oaklawn Cemetery burial printout, surnames A-E (830 entries)
• Tulsa's Rose Hill Memorial Park tombstones from the east half of cemetery (7 entries)
• The Cherokee Advocate newspaper (283 entries)
• Edmond's Gracelawn Cemetery tombstones (316 entries)
• Blue County, Choctaw Nation probate records (238 entries)
• Cheyenne/Arapaho Agency Deaths, Births, Adoptions and Guardianships (209 entries)

In total, this represents about 100 hours of work, including extracting and entering.

I will continue extracting records. Over the next few months I will be researching how to get this database on-line. My plans are to have it available on a subscription basis. I have consulted with a few librarians on what they see as a reasonable/viable price point. I'd like to hear from some individuals on what you think would be a reasonable subscription price for individuals. What would be a reasonable yearly price? Should I also offer a monthly price? Or even a one time/daily price?

Currently the database has 495,148 entries. At my current extraction and entry rate I should have about 505,000 entries by the end of the year.

Native American Death Records

It is interesting that I have been told for the past 39 years of doing genealogy that "You just can't find any vital records for Native Americans (Indians) before statehood in Oklahoma". I have talked with officials at the Iowa Tribe (when working on my Payne County OK Cemetery Index) and the Pawnee Tribe (when working on my Pawnee County OK Cemetery Index) and in both cases was told that no vital records were kept for their tribes.

Well...for the past 2 years or so I have spent one to 2 hours just about every Saturday at the Oklahoma History Center reading page by page through microfilmed records of the various Indian Agencies. And you wouldn't believe the types and wealth of vital records! Since I'm interested in deaths, here are some of the types of records microfilmed:

Kiowa Agency correspondence regarding cemeteries
Pawnee Agency Death Record books
Kiowa Agency Report of Death cards
all Agencies: Correspondence on Deaths
all Agencies: Census records (usually list death date if died during census year).
     - these were taken somewhat yearly!
Cheyenne Register of Families
Sac & Fox Record of Births and Deaths
Sac & Fox Estates
Pawnee Guardianships
Ponca Births and Deaths
Pawnee Estates
Pawnee Record of Deaths of Allotees
Otoe Estates
Kaw Agency Deaths
Pawnee Agency: Indian Service Book for Deaths and Births

This is just the tip of the iceberg. I still have hundreds of rolls to go through, but suffice it to say that for pre1920 Indian (Native American) deaths in Oklahoma, the record appears to be much more complete that for pre1920 "white" pioneers and settlers!

Database Progress Update: 479,660 Entries!!

     Yesterday I uploaded 5,411 more entries into my Pre-1920 Oklahoma Death Index database. The grand total is now 479,660 entries!

New entries from these sources:

• Mills Funeral Home Records, Grant Co. OK 1916-1956

• Panhandle Pioneers v6 1976

• The Geronimo Advocate  Jan 1907-Aug 1912

• Early Cemetery found near Wetumka, Hughes Co. OK ©1977 by Teressa Tyler Daniel

• Ottawa County OK Families v1 ©2008, v2 ©2006, v3 ©2007

• “1^st Baptist Church Kiowa-Rainey Mountain” (on OHS microfilm)

• “Henryetta Cumberland Presbyterian Church, register of communicants” (OCR#4)

• “ 1^st Presbyterian Church of Henryetta” (OCR#4)

• The Goingsnake Messenger Feb 1984 v1 #1, Sept 1984 v1 #2, Mar 1895 v2 #1

• A History of Tulsa OK: A City With a Personality v2 © 1921

• Custer County Probate Packets #418-#1321  (1910-1922)

• Major County Probate Packets #1-#587   (1907-1921)

• Woodward County Probate Packets #1-#478   (1890s-1914)

• Tecumseh Herald  17 June 1893-16 Sept 1893

• The Shawnee News Daily  2 Feb 1898-24 Mar 1898

• Mulhall Enterprise  5 Oct 1895-25 Sept 1903 and 9 July 1909-22 Dec 1911

• Britton Weekly Sentinel  13 Mar 1908-25 Dec 1909

• Pawnee & Subagencies: Estates (in PA#51)

• Pawnee & Subagencies: US Indian Service 1900-1909 allottee deaths (in PA#51)

• Pawnee & Subagencies: Estate/Death Documents (in PA#51)

• Pawnee & Subagencies: Affidavits as to Lawful Heirs (in PA#51)

• Pawnee & Subagencies: Correspondence  (in PA#51)

• Pawnee & Subagencies: Affidavits of Heirship (in PA#51)

• Pawnee & Subagencies: Notices of Hearing to Determine Heirs (in PA#51)

• Pawnee & Subagencies: Letters of Administration (in PA#51)

• Pawnee & Subagencies: Estates Book US Indian Service  2 Feb 1915  (in PA#51)

• Ponca Agency: Wills  (in PA#51)

• US Indian Service Book for Deaths and Births 1890-1893  (in PA#51)

• Pawnee & Subagencies: Vital Statistics (Kaw & Tonkawa deaths)   (in PA#51)

• Pawnee & Subagencies: Vital Statistics (Tonkawa, Kaw & Ponca correspondence) 

(in PA#51)

• Pawnee & Subagencies:  Kaw Vital Statistics 1904-1924  (in PA#51)

• Pawnee & Subagencies:  Otoe Estates 1911-1915  (in PA#51)

• Pawnee & Subagencies: Otoe Vital Statistics 1910-1919: Deaths  (in PA#51)

Back On-Line!...Probate Extraction Progress

     In August of last year my daughter went to France for a year’s study abroad. We bought her a new laptop and I inherited her “old” laptop (5 years old). Before then, my laptop was a Mac that was about 8 years old. So with a “new” computer, I set aside my Mac and started using my daughter’s old PC. Unfortunately, the PC died earlier this year (in early June). So I have gone back to my old Mac. Unfortunately, the operating system is not supported by many web sites and web browsers, nor is it upgradable. But I continue using it for lack of another computer to use at home.

     As Murphy would have it, on my old Mac I cannot access my blog for updates. So I am now using my work computer. The next several posts will be updates of the progress I have made in accessing and abstracting records of deaths in Oklahoma prior to 1920.

     Oklahoma probate records are available on FamilySearch for all but 14 counties in Oklahoma. For the past two years I have been going county by county through those records. This is very time consuming and slow, but very beneficial in the information encountered. So far I have finished 26 counties:

Adair                     Custer                   Okfuskee

Beaver                  Dewey                  Okmulgee

Beckham             Ellis                         Roger Mills

Blaine                    Harmon                Rogers

Canadian             Harper                  Texas

Carter                   Haskell                  Wagoner

Cherokee            Major                    Washington

Cimarron             Mayes                  Washita

Cotton                  McIntosh            

 

     Currently I am working on Tillman and Woodward Counties. Since I cannot access FamilySearch at home, I am extracting info for an hour before work, a half hour during lunch, and a half hour after work, each day. I can finish one county a month in this fashion. As I said, slow going, but lots of good info. Occasionally I check entries against findagrave and okcemeteries.net and notice that about 15% of extracted probate entries are for people who have no tombstones marking their graves.

 

     Next report: Newspapers: Death Notices and Obits.

Probate Records Part 2: Special Oklahoma Related Statutes

     Each state in the Union has its own unique probate laws and statutes. Records sometimes appear where you least expect them. Fore example, one of my Swedish immigrant ancestors was naturalized in the Cook County (IL) Criminal Court. Oklahoma has its own unique situations, mostly related to our having been the "Twin Territories" of Oklahoma Territory and Indian Territory AND due the way part of the state was opened to settlement.

     The Dawes' Commission spent many years "enrolling" Indians who resided in Indian Territory (and elsewhere, in some cases). A multitude of records exist purely as a result of Federal Laws and Dept. of Interior regulations that determined who would be enrolled. Even more records were created during the adjudication of disputes/appeals/ ect. to the rulings of the Dawes' Commission, Dept. of Interior, Tribal authorities and courts.

     It kind of reminds me of when I first started playing card games with my older siblings. It seemed that just as I got the hang of a game, my siblings would add a new rule. Multiple new rules. All very confusing and sometimes contradictory. Once Indian rolls were closed, "New Born" rolls were established. Inter-marrieds were allowed citizenship...then disallowed...then re-allowed. At least this is how the Daily Ardmoreite described it.

    Of importance regarding probate records are the following:
1) At the turn of the century (1900-ish) Indians were not considered capable of legally taking care of themselves and had to have a legal guardian. Then they were legal if they could speak/write English. Then children were allotted, but could not conduct legal transactions without having a guardian appointed. If a child died, a legal guardian had to be appointed to sell or lease the child's property. All these situations provide legal "fodder" in the form of court cases...many of which are in the form of probate files.
2) Remember that PROBATE includes estate and will, as well as guardianships, curatorships and lunacy/incompetency. (At least this was the case in territorial and early Oklahoma.)
3) Many of these probate records are available on-line at Family Search's website.
4) Most of the Indian records (Dawes' Commission records) are available on Fold3. These can be accessed through many libraries as a library card holder. The Oklahoma Metropolitan Library System allows access to Fold3 by logging in with your library card. And you can do it from home.

     THE other situation I referred to above is related to the way Oklahoma was opened to settlement. There were land runs and lotteries. "Original" settlers were issued land patents (original deeds) after a certain number of years of residence and improvement of there homestead. In many cases the original settler died before the patent was issued and the patent was then issued to the "heirs of" the original settler. This created a cloud to the title if the estate of the original settler was never probated. I have noticed in each western Oklahoma County from which I have extracted probate information a spate of probates from late 1919 to about 1922 for people who died 10 to 30 years earlier.

     Recently I came across a probate filed in Washita County records that explained this. It cited Senate Bill #60 of 1919 Session Laws of the State of Oklahoma...for the Determination of Heirship. I have not been able to track down a copy of the actual bill, but it allowed the current land owner to prove in court the history of the transfer of title back to the original patentee, file for determination of the heirs, and clear title to the land. So you may have had an ancestor who died in, say 1903, and he had filed on land in the Kiowa,Comanche & Apache opening of 1901. His death occurred before the required time to receive a land patent. The patent would have been issued to his wife/heirs if they proved up the property. However, this legally left a cloud on the title. Senate Bill #60 allowed the title to be cleared through the probate process. but only after mid-1919. So his probate file would be dated 1920 or 1921.

     If you are like me, you check the records on about 3 to 5 years on either side of the death. It would be easy to miss the later filings allowed by Senate Bill #60. Nor would you, like me, think to look for a probate file for a deceased infant or minor child. However, if the infant/child was an Indian allottee, there would have to be a probate file to legally transfer title to the land. So be aware of legal issues and laws regarding probates for time period your ancestors lived. They vary from state to state and period to period. But they are a treasure trove of information.

Probate Records Part 1: Guardianships

     I've spent a lot of time the past 12 months reading through probate records. I find it interesting the the causes generating probate records can be different whether in Indian Territory or Oklahoma Territory. I will address this in detail in a later post.

     There are three main types of probate records: Administration of Estate, Probate of Will, and Guardianship. Another, less common one, is Adoption.

     It has always been obvious to me that the first two types of records are probates, but I never really understood how Guardianship records were "probate" records.

     As I understand it now, reading through thousands of these records, a guardian is appointed to protect the legal interests (estate) of, usually, a minor. Since a minor legally cannot enter into a contract, a guardian is appointed to conduct business for the minor.

     In Indian Territory, guardianships were needed for the majority of enrolled Indian minors. These under age Indians were allotted land, and when it came time to sell or lease the land, the minors could not legally do that. So a guardian had to be appointed to dispose of (sell) the land or lease the land (farm leasing and oil/gas leasing).

     So when you see a guardianship record, DO NOT assume that the minors listed have deceased parents.

     Similarly in Oklahoma Territory, many of the guardianship records were for children who inherited land or money from a relative. For the minor to do anything with the inherited estate, a guardian was appointed as the legal representative of the minor. These records often list the names of the parents and other relatives.

     There are also what I always thought a guardianship was: the parent(s) of a child died and someone was appointed by the court to look after the best interests of and raise the child.

     Another type of guardianship I have seen is when a guardian is appointed for an incompetent person. In reading obituaries of elderly persons who also had guardians appointed for them, I would bet the incompetent persons had old age dementia or Alzheimer's.

     Don't overlook the Guardianship as a valuable genealogical record. It will often give the ages or birth dates of the minors, list the names of the parents and other relatives living in the county that could care for the minors, and give the names and locations of those from whom the minors inherited property. For those with Indian ancestry, these records could be the most valuable record you have missed!

End of 2013 Update

     2013 is nearing its end. I've made lots of progress, but the records extraction is very slow going. here are the highlights of the new records added to my Pre-1920 Oklahoma Death Index:

• Cherokee County Probate Appearance Dockets v2-5 (1907-1917)
• Daily Ardmoreite (Ardmore OK) 1 Jan 1906 through 10 May 1906
• Ellis County Gage Dist. Probate Packets #225-765 (1896-1921)
• Harmon County Probate Case Files #1-193 (1907-1921)
• Mayes County Probate Appearance Docket v1-3 (1907-1919)
• North Central Oklahoma: Rooted in the Past/Growing for the Future 1995 v1&2
• Okmulgee County Probate Appearance Dickets v1-2? (1907-1909)
• Pioneers of the Chickasaw Nation IT 1997 by Nova Lemons v1&2
• Rogers County Probate Appearance Dockets v1-5 (1908-1919)
• Rose Hill Burial Park (in Oklahoma City) Sexton's Card File  A-Z (first burial in 1917)
• Wagoner County Probate Appearance Dockets v1-6 1907-1919

       Each of these sources requires page by page reading to find the information on early Oklahoma Deaths. Sometimes I find only 10 to 15 per hour. However, from Nov 16th to Dec 29th I have added 4072 entries to the databse.

     This brings the grand total to 464,109 entries!!!

Progress Update

     Today I added 1833 new entries bringing the total in my Pre-1900 Oklahoma Death Index database to 458,295. My goal for 2013 was to have 500,000 entries in the database, however, it looks like I will only reach the 470,000 mark. I have exhausted the "easy" sources (indexes) and am now slogging my way page by page through sources that require more intense study.

     Sources consulted for the 1833 entries added today were:

• The Daily Ardmoreite (May and June 1905)
• The Inola Register (5 Oct 1906 through 29 Mar 1907)
• Carter County Probate Packets (1906 through 1909)
• Cimarron County Probate Case Files (1907 through 1922, finished)
• Harper County Probate Case Files (1907 through 1913)
• Texas County Probate Case Files (1915 through 1922, finished)
• Oak Hill Cemetery & Mount Calvary Cemetery in McAlester by PCGS
• Pioneers of the Chickasaw Nation IT published in 1991 (vol 1 through p257)

     For probate records I have been consulting those that are available on FamilySearch. I am concentrating on those counties that do not have any scanned probate indexes. Earlier this year I went through the scanned index books, so am now concentrating on counties that did not have any scanned index volumes. Since I have spent so much time and effort on records from Indian Territory the past two years, I decided to start my way in far west Oklahoma and work my way east. So the Panhandle counties of Cimarron, Texas and Beaver are finished and Harper County is nearly half way completed.

     Continuing projects include:

• Dawes' Roll Enrollment Cards: working on Chickasaw; have completed Cherokee, Choctaw, Creek and Seminole.
• Minor Tribes Census Rolls: currently working on the Kiowa Agency Rolls. These include censuses for the Kiowa, Comanche, Apache and Wichita tribes. So far I have over 500 deaths from the 1879, 1881, 1881-1883, and 1883 censuses.

     The work is "slow going" these days what with reading each page of the sources looking for death information. And I am a "one man show". That is by design. However, the database is now big enough that I have been able to help quite a few people find references to the deaths of people they are searching for.

     Another update in about two weeks!

Indian Census Records

     Most genealogists are told (and believe) that there are few death records for Indians (Native Americans) who resided in what is now Oklahoma. In fact, I have personally heard librarians who specialize in Indian records state that the only place you might find a death record in the US District Court records and maybe the Dawes' Roll enrollment forms and packets. This, however, is far from the truth!

     On day last year I downloaded the "Catalog of Microfilm Publications" for the Archives and Manuscript Division of the Oklahoma Historical Society. I printed it, not realizing that it is a 221 page document. It lists many records, including the microfilmed collections of various tribes in Oklahoma. It is not limited to the Five Civilized Tribes, but includes what are often referred to as the minor tribes.

     Usually the first few rolls of a specific tribe's/Agency's records are what are referred to as Censuses. These are Census Enrollments of Indians living within a specific Agency's jurisdiction. Most are dated 30 June or 1 July of a certain year. The earliest Rolls list the head of household (not always a man) and state that someone in the family died during the year following the census date. Other early forms list head of household and numbers of females, male kids under and over 7 years of age and the same for female children. These early censuses were not meant to be death registers. Yet you can find death information scattered across the pages. Sometimes a name will be crossed out with "dead" written next to the name. Sometimes the 1 for the child will be changed to 0 with a note at the end of the row "dead". More commonly at the far right of the row it will state that the woman or child died on a certain date or just in a certain year. If the male is listed as dead (often with a death date) the name of his "woman" will be listed.

     In later censuses, the Agency superintendent would have the Census Roll typed. These are much easier to read. They are clearly labeled as "dead" and more often than not the death date is listed. These later records are complete lists of household with reference to the family number on the immediate past Census Roll.

     I have spent about 2 to 4 hours most Saturdays since January 2013 reading through these Census Rolls gleaning death information. The numbers listed below are somewhat misleading. If the dead Indian is listed by both Indian name and English name, I include two entries for that person, one under each name. For each entry, I include the alternate name in the relationship/comments column of the database.

     Following is a list of the Census Rolls by Tribe and number of death entries I today added to my master database of pre1920 deaths in Oklahoma:

* Iowa..............................................................25
* Kaw............................................................308
* Mexican Kickapoo........................................84
* Citizen Pottawatomie...................................154
* Sac & Fox..................................................258
* Absentee Shawnee......................................241
* Miami (and associated tribes)......................180
* Cheyenne and Arapaho(e).........................1144
* Kiowa/Comanche/Wichita/Apache..............332

     Granted, these are not huge numbers, but for a people group for whom most will claim records from the time period do not exist or are rare, this is a lot! And the Kiowa/Comanche/Wichita/Apache Census Roll number listed above is by no means complete. That 332 entries covers only part way through the 1881-1883 Census Roll. I still have 27 years of Census Rolls to go through!

     There are lots of records out there that the average person knows nothing about. Even the "expert" librarians don't know much about these records. So get out there and "dig" through records that might help you with your research! Get excited and have fun!

Government Shutdown, etc...

• The "government shutdown" has actually affected this project! I was opening the National Archives' Chronicling America page to continue abstracting obits from the Daily Ardmoreite. When opening, an error message stated that until further notice, this page is shut down. This newspaper is also in the digitized newspapers on the Oklahoma History Center's website. However, links from issue to issue do not exist (at least not that I have found). So for the time being, I have started on an Inola OK newspaper.
• I uploaded another 2084 records. Some are from a couple of published books (one on Chickasaw Nation, one on Oklahoma South of the Canadian). But the majority are from the Daily Ardmoreite newspapers (Dec 1904 through May 1905) and from the Dawes' Roll Enrollment Cards: Cherokee Doubtful and Rejected. Thus finishes the Cherokee Enrollment Cards. The only Enrollment Cars to finish are the Chickasaw, however, they are very dim and I don't hold out much hope for adding many from this source.
• The total for the database is now 454,072 entries. 
• I started on Texas County Probate Packets and Carter County Probate Packets. It's interesting to come across probate packets for people from the Dawes' Roll Enrollment Cards for the Choctaws and Chickasaws. Some of the probate packets give death information on heirs as well as the person the file is for. In one case there is death info on the deceased, two of her daughters, two of her sisters and three of her nieces/nephews. All in one file!
• Progress will continue on Carter County and Texas County probate packets, Chickasaw Enrollment Cards, Apache/Comanche census records, Daily Ardmoreite death notices, and other records I come across. 

Recent Activities: Sept 2013

     On September 9th I presented the program "Death Records in Indian Territory and Early Oklahoma" at the monthly meeting of the Oklahoma Genealogical Society. After the meeting a new member asked if I had a suggestion on how to find information on her ancestor who died south of Stroud OK in July 1897. On a lark I looked him up in my index and found an entry for him with the source as the Beaver Herald (in Beaver County in the Oklahoma Panhandle)! My assumption was that one of his children moved out there and the death notice was published for that reason.

     As it turns out, the death notice appeared in the "Territorial News" column. The descendant then checked and found a more detailed death notice in a Guthrie paper relating the details of his drowning. She is continuing to check other newspapers in Oklahoma/Indian Territory (likely Chandler and/or Bristow) for additional accounts. As I related in my talk, these accounts can vary highly in content from one newspaper to another.

     I have my handout available in a four page word document for anyone who would like one. Simply email me and request it. I also have a copy of my personal lecture notes outline (including URLs for source websites). My lecture notes are 12 pages long and are available for a $3 donation to the OGS. Copies will be available at the next OGS meeting (Oct 7th), or email me for directions to send the donation, and once received I will email the notes.

     I just finished going through the Dawes' Rolls Enrollment Cards for the Cherokee Nation. Current ongoing extraction projects include Carter County probates, Texas County probates, and Daily Ardmoreite death notices and obituaries. More to come...

Progress Update!!

     I thought I would update the progress of the Pre-1920 Oklahoma Death Index:

• Just finished extracting death information from Canadian County Probate Packets.
• Nearing the end of the Cherokee Dawes' Enrollment Cards. I have about 2500 more cards to go through, so should be finished by the end of September. So far I have 23,600 death references from just the Cherokee cards.
• When I finish the Cherokee cards, I will go back to the Chickasaw cards. I had stopped working on them when over 50 pages in a row were unreadable (too faint to read). They will probably take til the end of the year to finish.
• I finished the following "minor" Indian Census Rolls: Iowa, Kaw, Kickapoo, Miami, Citizen Pottawatomie, Absentee Shawnee, Sac & Fox, and just Saturday, the Cheyenne/Arapaho. I have yet to import these into the database.
• Finished volume 2 of "Oklahoma South of the Canadian". This set was published in 1925. I made a decent start into volume 3. It is surprising how many deaths are recorded in the biographical histories!

     The database is currently just short of 450,000 entries. For a few people, I now have references to a death notice, obit, funeral home record, cemetery/tombstone record, probate record, pension record, etc. This is the whole purpose: Bring together all available references to deaths in early Oklahoma in order to help people researching their family history.

     More info to come...

Indian Census Records: Unusual Names

     For the past few months, on my weekly Saturday forays to the Oklahoma History Center's Research Library, I have been reading page by page through the microfilmed Indian census records. It is interesting seeing the multi-syllable Indian names, followed by the English name translations. Censuses with both names serve as a type of Rosetta Stone for names of the tribal members for the years on either side of 1900 in what is now Oklahoma.

     One household I find quite amusing and ironic. A 78 year old male named Sweet Water was married to a 30 year old female named Old Woman.

     Another entry from the late 1880s or early 1890s had only the Indian names for each individual. However, I came across twin 18 year old boys who had been orphaned, one of whom died during the year following the census being taken. Their names were Julius Caesar and Roberson Crusoe. I assume that they were named by the superintendent of an orphan's asylum, but that's just conjecture.

     You never know what names you'll come across. But you should enjoy the irony in many of the names. You should also appreciate the ones that make you chuckle and share the reasons for your chuckles with others!

"New Computer", regained access!!

     Several months ago (in April) my laptop ceased to be compatible with the Blogspot platform, with Firefox and Expolorer, and most other applications. With my daughter going over seas to study for the next year, she received a new computer and I received her old computer. Now that I have become semi-proficient with Windows 7 (after using a Mac since 1982) I have regained access to Blogspot.

     So...I should be posting at least once each week. My "plans" are to post each Wednesday and Saturday, so twice each week. I have come across some interesting records, as well as some funny and ironic records. I'll post about those as well as availability and location of various sources that contain/include deaths of Oklahomans who died before the year 1920.

     I have been asked lately why I don't record obits in Oklahoma papers for people who died out of state. I only include them if the formerly lived in Oklahoma or if they ended being buried in Oklahoma. Since my index as an Oklahoma Death Index, I choose not to enter deaths of those who died out of state and whose only connection to Oklahoma was having relatives in Oklahoma.

     That may seem inappropriate or arbitrary to some, but I had to choose some parameters for my database. They are as arbitrary as choosing 31 Dec 1919 as my cut-off date. But, as my dad who was a geologist would say when showing his maps during the decision making process in drilling wells, "That's my story and I'm sticking by it!"

NEW UPDATE: 446,493 Entries

     Since my last post, I have been extracting information from many different sources. I am about a month away from finishing the Cherokee Dawes' Roll Enrollment Cards, half way through Canadian County probate packets, working through "minor" tribes (non-5 Civilized) census records, and various online and in library books/manuscripts.

     The grand total of records in my database is now 446,493 entries! I should hit the 450,000 entries mark by the end of August. Extracting will fall off in the Fall during football season as I work OSU football games and will lose my wonderful Saturday research time at the Oklahoma Historical Society Research Library and Indian Archives.

     More to come....

Progress Update

The Pre-1920 Oklahoma Death Index is now at 424,116 entries.

• Just finished extracting death information from Blaine County probate records, about 850 entries in all.

• Working through the Dawes Enrollment Cards for Cherokees. It will probably take most of this year to finish all the Cherokee cards. I'm including those with death dates AND the deaths of parents and spouses listed as dead (their death listed as pre1900-08, for example).

* About half way through deaths recorded at the Sequoyah County Court House. These were periodically recorded by doctors and cover time period of about 1908 to 1917.

• Finished reading through the Beaver Herald, 1895 through end of 1919.

• Started reading through the Langston City Herald (up to Feb 1896).


My computer is a several years old Mac laptop. Apparently the operating system is not compatible with any of the current browsers, so I lose ability to post on this blog most of the time. Soon, I will inherit my daughters 2 year old PC laptop, so should be back to normal abilities and displays. Hopefully I will be able to get back to weekly postings! Until then...Good Hunting!